David Pagnotta says Matthew Poitras and Mason Lohrei are names that keep coming up around the Bruins, according to a post this afternoon.
The timing is awkward. Boston is 13-5-1 and sits third in the Atlantic, but the team is coming off a 5-2 home loss to Montreal last night, and the trade chatter around the roster hasn't slowed down.
Asked about the Bruins and whether they would use their draft picks, Pagnotta said Poitras and Lohrei's names are "always kind of out there." He added that the club will do it if there's a way to improve the team, but that they're "not exclusively looking at this season."
This is a rumor and nothing more. Nothing in it says either player is being shopped right now, or that a deal is close. It describes a front office that keeps both names in the conversation.
Poitras, 22, has 4 goals and 3 assists in 14 games this season. At practice today he skated on the fourth line next to Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic, which tells you where he sits in the pecking order right now.
Lohrei's name isn't new in this space. We noted Mason Lohrei's name staying out there on Wednesday, again through Pagnotta, and the defenseman has 3 goals and 3 assists in 19 games. He was paired with Jonathan Aspirot at practice today.
Why do Poitras and Lohrei keep coming up?
Because they're the kind of assets other teams ask about. Both are Boston second-round picks, Lohrei in 2020 and Poitras in 2022, and both are young enough that a rival can sell itself on their upside.
Lohrei is a 6-foot-5 defenseman who played 17:53 against the Canadiens and finished a -2. Poitras played 9:26 in the same game, and a bottom-six role with that little ice time makes him the easier of the two to move.
The "not exclusively this season" line is the part worth chewing on. A team at 13-5-1 that still talks about the long view isn't in panic mode, and it suggests Don Sweeney would rather trade from depth than gut the group for a rental.
Selling Lohrei would be the harder call. Defensemen his size don't come around often, and moving one just because he's in a rough stretch would be a mistake.
Then there's Dylan Larkin. We have already covered Dylan Larkin being linked to the Bruins and Canadiens, with Boston reportedly pushing harder. Detroit is 7-10-3 and has lost five straight, while Larkin has 6 points in 10 games.
If a Larkin deal ever takes shape, young players with team control are the obvious currency. Poitras and Lohrei fit that description, though nobody has reported a link between the two stories.
Boston hosts Minnesota on Saturday, and Pagnotta's comments suggest the trade conversations won't pause for it.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
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